{"id":5640,"date":"2026-04-02T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=5640"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:46:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:46:43","slug":"workplace-culture-absolutely-intercultural-317","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=5640","title":{"rendered":"Workplace Culture +++ Absolutely Intercultural 317"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-5640-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_317.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_317.mp3\">http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_317.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/5364224938379777996.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"662\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/5364224938379777996-662x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5646\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.6669985269837527;width:207px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/5364224938379777996-662x1024.jpg 662w, https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/5364224938379777996-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/5364224938379777996-768x1189.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/5364224938379777996.jpg 827w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Hello dear listeners, and welcome to Show 317 of Absolutely Intercultural!<br><\/strong>Have you ever looked at your desk and wondered: How much of my actual life is allowed to happen here?<br>Today, we\u2019re diving into a topic that affects almost all of us: Workplace Culture. Specifically, we are looking at where the &#8220;employee&#8221; ends, and the&nbsp; &#8220;human being&#8221; begins.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In a globalized world, the rules of the office change dramatically the moment you cross a border. For instance, think about the time. In some cultures, leaving exactly at 5:00 PM is seen as a sign of efficiency and self-respect, while in others, leaving while your boss is still there feels like an unspoken betrayal.<\/p>\n<p>Even the way we disagree tells a story. Does a usual meeting look like a &#8220;productive clash&#8221; of ideas, or a carefully chosen words where you only say what you really think over a private coffee later?<\/p>\n<p>And finally, do we work to live, or do we live to work?<\/p>\n<p>As always, here on Absolutely Intercultural, everyone is free to think and say absolutely anything. My name is Ahmed, and this episode comes to you from Germany. So, grab a coffee, sit back, and ask yourself: How much of your real self do you bring to work?<\/p>\n<p>Before we begin, a small declaimer. We\u2019re discussing cultural &#8216;averages&#8217; here, those mythical people who represent a whole society. In reality, no one fits the description perfectly. So, we also celebrate the outliers, the exceptions, and the individuals who do things their own way.<\/p>\n<p>In today&#8217;s show, we\u2019ll get to know three guests who have navigated the culture shock of shifting boundaries:<br>In our first story <strong>Absolutely Remote<\/strong>, we hear from Julia, who explores the &#8220;new normal&#8221; for some employees in German offices, where a tradition of strict presence is clashing with a modern demand for mobile flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in our second story, <strong>Absolutely Divided<\/strong> we meet Ivan, who moved from a socially &#8220;warm&#8221; workplace in Serbia to the structured environment of Germany and found an unexpected sense of freedom in the rules.<br><br>In our last story <strong>Absolutely Open-minded<\/strong>, we\u2019ll sit down with Rutchika, who compares the &#8220;clean-desk&#8221; reality of the West with the beautifully tangled, family-like chaos of Indian workplaces.<br><br>Maybe the perfect workplace doesn&#8217;t exist. Maybe it\u2019s just about finding a workplace culture that fits the way you want to live.<\/p>\n<p>So, here\u2019s a question for you: If someone looked at your workspace right now, what would it tell them about your private life? We\u2019d love to hear your stories. Leave a comment on our website or reach out if you\u2019d like to be a guest. And don\u2019t forget to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Our next show will be coming to you on 1st of May 2026 from Anne Fox in Denmark. Until then &#8211; Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!<\/p>\n<p>The host of this show is: Ahmed Kebbaoui (Germany).<\/p>\n<p>Chief Editor: Oleksii Tsapenko (Ukrainian).<br>Assistant Editor: Lorena Peposhi (Albanian).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/poddownico.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/podcast\/absolutely_intercultural_show_317.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-wplink-edit=\"true\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/podfeedico.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/absolutely-intercultural\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Podcast-Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/podaboico.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/podcast-absolutely-intercultural\/id137617215\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple podcasts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello dear listeners, and welcome to Show 317 of Absolutely Intercultural!Have you ever looked at your desk and wondered: How much of my actual life is allowed to happen here?Today, we\u2019re diving into a topic that affects almost all of us: Workplace Culture. Specifically, we are looking at where the &#8220;employee&#8221; ends, and the&nbsp; &#8220;human &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/?p=5640\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Workplace Culture +++ Absolutely Intercultural 317&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5640"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5655,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5640\/revisions\/5655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.absolutely-intercultural.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}